I doesn’t mean much really. I just see it as work. It’s my job. That’s all it is really.

What’s your favourite memory of the Bearpit?

I think when I was a kid. Back in the day, a long time ago, it was a lot different than this. There never used to be any of this. There was no graffiti, it was all the same brick walls but it was totally different to how it is now.

What is your worst memory of the Bearpit?

The down and outs. That’s all I can remember really. We’ve got too many of them down here really… that’s all I can think of.

Could you describe the community of the Bearpit in a sentence?

That’s a big one… I don’t really chat to that many people down here to be honest with you. It’s just a few of the down and outs I talk to that's about it. Nothing else.

Describe your perfect Bearpit day.

When it’s nice and sunny haha. It’s better in the sun, it’s not nice when it’s raining but it’s alright because you’ve got the tunnels so it’s not too bad.

What does the Bearpit mean to you?

It’s a gathering place. It’s like a community. It’s a place where people can associate each other when no one else will really talk to us. It’s full of company, we help each other out. It’s like they say, it’s a hard sort of family.

What is your worst memory of the bearpit?

My worst memory of the bearpit is, two girls fighting over a bottle of booze. And it was an awful fight.

What is your best memory of the bearpit?

I was sitting by the fruit stall, this was maybe a year and a half ago. And there was this black guy and he was playing his guitar and we sang songs all night. I’d had, maybe half a bottle of vodka and a couple of spliffs. I don’t know, we just sat down and we just sang. It was brilliant.

Could you describe the community of the bearpit in one sentence?

Education. That’s all.

What is your perfect Bearpit day?

I’d be sitting here, making conversation. Without warfare, without negativity. Just talking about something positive. Just people passing through and talking.

Troy has been living on the streets of Bristol for around two years. When I asked him how he ended up in Bristol, Troy said he had moved to be with his partner who subsequently got into the wrong crowd and used drugs heavily. Unfortunately, his partner sadly died from an overdose 7 months ago. He said he still keeps her with him because when someone means that much to you, you can’t just let them go. It’s not worth it, he said sometimes he sees things or hears things and he just knows that it’s her.

What does the Bearpit mean to you?

The Bearpit to me means work, an exciting place to be, a job that I wanted for a long time - well a project that I wanted to be involved with for quite a long time. It means possibility, it means fresh starts. I think that’s pretty much, just about, what it means to me - at this moment in time.

Can you describe the community of the Bearpit in one sentence?

Yeah! We’re all a bunch of mad nutters! Everyone here: the trading community - they work super hard and just have tirelessly been here working day in, day out, rain or shine. Under canopies - can you imagine standing under a canopy for 4 years in the freezing cold? Creating new opportunities for themselves and willing to always try and create for others, like me. Just everyone here; the people that come through here. People who come from Clifton who are really shocked, they think it’s a really scary place but, actually, they figure that it’s not. They realise they can stop here and be a part of it and watch and observe and see what young kids in Bristol are up to - What with all the skaters, the gardening projects that happen. And, yes, there’s a huge community of homeless people that gather here and some of them are homeless and some of them are not. You know, there’s a lot of troublesome characters, with their addictions and things, but it’s also interesting to talk to those people and it’s really important to remember that those people exist. You can just walk past them here and ignore the fact that they're there. But they are there. And again, it’s an opportunity to try and learn and merge those communities and work with the people within that community, understand that community and we can learn so much from them.

What is your worst memory of the Bearpit?

What would my worst memory be? I’m gonna have to think on that because i’ve only had… I haven't really had any bad situations. Okay. My worst one, we were opening up one morning and there were some really aggressive, drug messed people sleeping on the porch. There were two of us here and we were trying to wake them up. One guy, started out friendly but he rapidly got aggressive and he was quite verbally abusive. Then, he started kicking one guy to tell him to wake up, to get off of the floor, but the guy wouldn't wake up because because he was so drug messed. Then he threw up all over the decking and that's not what you want on a Saturday morning when, you’re trying to open up and you just wanna work and you just wanna do your job and you’re trying to have a conversation with them and level with them but, they're so messed up that you just can't. It was really difficult to get that going and it took me over an hour and a half to get the shop open and clear that situation and we had called the police but they didn't show up until about 4 o’clock that afternoon when we were closing. We could have done with a bit of help, that was pretty exhausting and just not nice to see at the beginning of the day or to experience.

What is your best memory of the Bearpit?

I think, I guess my first day working here actually.

Because, I used to come through here before on my way back home from work. And I used to dream of working in a kind of more open environment with food again because I was doing a lot of office and events work.

And I was working super hard.

But that changed that day I started working here. It was a bright day, it was just a beautiful day and I felt really positive and excited again about the future and all the plans that tie in with this, with me being here and the things that I’m doing elsewhere in my life.

It was just a really exciting day.

Describe your perfect Bearpit day.

The sun is shining, there’s queues at the cafe and at the burrito bus. There’s people everywhere. There’s people in the garden, working with Incredible Edible Bristol. I’m busy. I’ve got the most beautiful, ripe fruit and peaches. There's just people hanging out and chatting. Nice buskers. Playing nice music - that we want to listen to haha. And maybe some hula hooping going on because I’ve seen that here.Yeah, just a big vibrant space full of people, full of sunshine. That’s my best day.

What does the Bearpit mean to you?

It’s an interesting space. It’s an area that I think is shared but not always loved by all despite the love it may show to them. I matured a lot in the bearpit so it’s a place of growing and knowledge for me but also a place with constant memories of spilt milk and good coffee. I love the bearpit, I think I always will. It accepts anyone and everyone - I like that.

What is your favourite memory of the Bearpit?

I grew quickly attached to the Bearpit and everything about it; the commuters, the traders, the homeless people and their (sometimes) great dance moves, the customers and even its flaws (cold toilets being a biggy). I love the fact that I did work for a company within the bearpit that sourced everything they could as locally as possible. Mostly I love being a part of something that has such a noticeable impact, not only on the area itself but on everyone that uses it and has become a part of it’s community.

What is your worst memory of the Bearpit?

I think the worst day in my time at the Bearpit was a Saturday. I don’t remember it perfectly because everything happened so quickly but I can tell you roughly what happened. I think it was in the Summer and a group of guys had been drinking and getting pretty aggy all day. Miriam had either gone over to move a fence to help open the bus or politely speak to them - I’m not sure I can’t exactly remember. But, what ended up happening was one of the guys actually physically assaulted Miriam. I’ve definitely seen some fights in my time and I’ve heard all manner of abuse being yelled - the list could go on forever. But I guess I never really thought it would become that physical towards us and towards Miriam. Even when I think back to it, it makes us feel separated into ‘us and them’ and that’s not what this is. That’s not what community is. And while what happened to Miriam was awful, I think on that day there was a massive breakdown of communication and it really felt like the ‘us and them’ situation which is exactly the opposite of everything that has been worked for for so many years.

Describe the community of the Bearpit in one sentence.

Indescribable; you can’t put a sentence on it or put it into a box and label it. It’s a community like no other I’ve been a part of, it is so diverse and so welcoming. So large but so individual. So many groups come together to make this one big bearpit. I can’t really describe it but whatever it is, I love it.

Describe your perfect Bearpit day.

I’d say hopefully sunny and quite warm, filled with lots of those cinnamon bun, donut things they sell at the cafe. Lots of happy people, nice music - maybe a few buskers to whip out the old acoustic bangers. I’d like lots of mexican food too. It would just be a nice day, a happy day (not weird happy just nice happy), a busy day. I’m not sure really. Maybe we could get banksy to reveal his true identity and do a cool piece of art in one of the tunnels - that would be a pretty perfect day!